Ethanol And Gas Both Get Expensive: An Energy Nightmare

Corn prices have doubled to nearly $7 a bushel. Farmers have begun to plant more of the crop to make large profits.  Activists will almost certainly blame ethanol producers for the rise in prices. The ethanol lobbyists will say that their use of the corn crop is modest. The ethanol debate goes beyond its price. The subsidies and profits of producers are at stake. The ethanol industry may not have the sustainable finances to remain viable.

A mix of 5% to 10% of ethanol is used in most gasoline for cars. That should make it a hedge against gas prices, which have hit $3.70 in many states. Ethanol prices many get so high, however, that they will no longer save consumers any money.

The ethanol price problem is at the core of the issue of energy costs. Gas goes up with the price of oil. Ethanol goes up with the price of corn. Nuclear power is relatively cheap to produce. But, many people think it is too risky after the catastrophe in Japan.

People concerned about energy prices have fewer and fewer places to turn. Agricultural-based fuel was supposed to join with sun and wind energy to cut US reliance on oil imports and dirty fuel sources like coal. Environmentalists are against blowing the tops off mountains in places like Kentucky to get inexpensive coal inventory. These critics claim it pollutes the water supply. That may be the case, but coal is about all that is left among accessible sources of energy which are in abundance. Coal plants still produce nearly 50% of all the US’s electricity. Its critics–those who want to limit mining–don’t seem to care about that point.

A divide in the energy-producing world which formed long ago has become more active. There are those who think that the advocates of a new age of energy, which includes nuclear energy, biofuels, wind, and solar, do not want to admit that their solutions are too expensive or not palatable to the public. Environmentalists believe that coal mining and the flooding of land that comes with erecting dams hurts flora and fauna. Nearly everyone despises the growing US dependence on oil and the rise in energy costs it currently produces. That hatred is the only thing that joins the groups together.

One or the other group will have to start to give ground. Corn in the field or coal on the mountain. Or, the price of gas at $5. And an economic recovery undermined by energy costs. Objections to each source are not sustainable.

Douglas A. McIntyre